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Product Description

Platform: PC Download

Build the adventure from Privet Drive to the Triwizard Tournament and experience the magic of the first four Harry Potter™ stories – LEGO® style! Explore Hogwarts™ School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learn spells, brew potions and relive the adventures like never before with tongue-in-cheek humor and creative customization that is unique to LEGO® videogames!

I'm trying to divide my review into two parts: 1) The game. 2) The bugs.

1) The game. The game is an innovative take on the standard Lego game engine (which I have been used to from the Star Wars versions), with a much more fluid game interface and transition giving it a stronger feel of a cohesive world. I'm not that familiar with the Harry Potter story, but my son (the game player) finds that it fits right in with the story line. I did notice that the Lego tradition of no dialog (only grunting) in the video transitions completely breaks down. If you don't know the movies (or at least the book) they make no sense. It took my son over 8 hours to play the game through to the end (just to get to the levels, not to do the free play). Overall it is a fun game for those who like Harry Potter and the general Lego take on these things in its games. Just on that basis I would give it a 4 star rating.

2) The bugs. Their technical support tells me that Windows 7 is not supported. I have a laptop with Windows 7 and better graphics which would crash. There were two types of crashes. Random crashes that just didn't repeat if you replayed the level, and then there were two specific points in the game which crashed 100% of the time. I was able to get around those crashes by lowering the graphics setting in one place, and raising it back up in the other. I moved it to an older Vista machine, and it works (it crashes on exit, but who cares?). That older Vista machine has a lousy graphics card and to the credit of the game makers, they adjust the graphics down to compensate, so the game works fine. I have to say that first of all Amazon is incorrectly listing this game as compatible with Windows 7, so beware, and second of all it is not acceptable to release a game incompatible with Windows 7 8 months after it is released to the general public. Who do they think are buying these games with sophisticated graphics? Exclusively people with year-old machines? Unacceptable.

I have asked Amazon for what their resolution to this matter will be. I expect them to refund customers even with open boxes. Although I got the game to work because I happen to have an older Vista machine, most won't, and the game simply doesn't work as advertised.

EDIT: Just heard back from Amazon customer service - they are indeed refunding it even if the product was opened. Since I found a way to get the game to work, I probably will not be returning it, but good for Amazon for making it right.Read more ›

Excellent tech support (and you most likely will need it). Be sure your machine WELL EXCEEDS the basic hardware requirements required for the game to function properly. I would even recommend that it surpasses recommended hardware specs for a trouble-free gaming experience as this game makes some serious demands on your system if run with all options enabled.

I had many issues and challenges with this game the first weeks after release but have since resolved all challenges I faced both with TT Games support and through personal trial and error. Now it's back to fun and am looking to complete it this weekend.

Incidentally, I am running this on Windows 7 32-bit with 4 GB of RAM on an Intel Dual-Core 1.86 GHz machine. Just make sure that you have a VERY good video card with sufficient power to run this game. Some of the later levels are very graphics intensive and will bog your machine down to crash mode if you do not have sufficient resources.

Playing LEGO Harry Potter for the PC has been an exercise in fun sprinkled with a few bouts of frustration.

First off, the gameplay is just about flawless but I do have a nitpick or two:

PROS:

- If you can think of any character in the Harry Potter Universe, you can pretty much play as that character in the LEGO Game. My wife was especially excited when she realized she could play as a plasticised version of Robert Pattinson (He's SOOO DREAMY!! Could LEGO Twilight be next?!). - One of the bonus extras that shows up early in the game prevents characters from constantly falling to their doom, which was a *huge* problem with previous games. Sure, it's a 3D game, but it's also on a 2D screen and thus the lack of depth perception makes the location of some objects difficult to figure out in relation to other objects. Perhaps this isn't an issue if you have a 3D screen? - While playing with two players, the screen "splits" in order to allow individuals to explore without needing their companion to tag along. It's a weird effect that does take some time to get used to, but it makes 2-player multitasking so much easier and much more fun. - The idea of having the characters use the Wingardium Leviosa spell to build objects is genius and extremely fun to watch. - Like the other LEGO games, the surprises, creativity, and slightly dark humor put into the game are just a joy to behold. It must be a lot of fun working for Traveler's Tales! - Music from the scores for the first four films -- including Patrick Doyle's -- is a nice touch. - The game is huge! My wife and I are spending a lot more time getting to the 100% level than other LEGO games.

CONS:

- NOT having Wingardium Leviosa as the default spell when beginning a level is silly. The "joke" spells are fun but since they add nothing to the gameplay, they shouldn't be the default spells.- A few scenarios require you to use Wingardium Leviosa to stack LEGO bricks (instead of automatically build) in order to reach certain objects. Trying to stack bricks is nothing short of frustrating and has NO fun factor.

Now, a lot of complaints have been brought against the PC version of this game but I think a lot of it's overblown, IMO. I have Windows 7 32 bit and haven't encountered any situations where I couldn't get past a certain level -- my wife and I are just about at the 100% level. And in terms of stability, I haven't found anything that makes me throw my hands up and give up. Nevertheless, it's not perfect like it has been with past LEGO games.

PROS of PC Version:

- The resolution/video settings can be as high as you want and you can still get a fantastic framerate. Of course, you're limited by your hardware, but most PC sold these days should handle this game easily.- The PC version is $10 cheaper than the console versions (right?).

CONS:

- 2-Player Free mode is a mess. The game *does* randomly crash for no reason that my wife and I can figure out. Luckily, we are given a "warning" when the game is about to crash - the audio pops in and out - and thus we're able to save our game before catastrophe strikes.- With the Logitech Rumblepad 2 controller in 2-player mode, one of the controllers will drop out unexpectedly in multiple locations throughout the game. This is a serious enough problem that it warrants a reprimand against the QA dept. I'm not sure if it's specific to the Rumblepad 2 and/or if it affects the XBox 360 Controller for PC, but it really is aggravating.- I have *never* successfully been able to close out the game without getting a "Crash" notice in Windows 7.

So, in essence, when the game works, it's fantastic and comes highly recommended; I just wish that it would work 100% of the time. I guess if you're willing to go with lower resolution/graphics quality but with more stability, then go with one of the console versions. If you're willing to take a chance on the PC version, by all means do so as I still was able to do everything I wanted with it in the end.Read more ›

It's a shame this game is so buggy. You can tell the developers put a lot of love into it, and it's truly the best Potter game that's come out. The bugs aren't impossible to work around, but there's no way to play through and not get frustrated by them. (I will describe how I got around them at the end of the review.)

The games EA made based on the Harry Potter series were simplistic, and while running around Hogwarts was fun, I could never help but feel like EA tried to shoehorn the magical world into a cliched gaming shell, filled with platform jumping and shooting generic enemies. This game isn't like that. There are humorous and clever touches throughout; the cut scenes always poke fun at the films, and Hogwarts itself comes to life in the details. During Harry's second year, for example, you'll see Colin Creevey in the halls snapping pictures with his camera; during his fourth, you'll run into Rita Skeeter and numerous Beauxbatons and Durmstrangs. They're not pointed out. They're just there, as nods to the fans.

I also think the Lego building dimension adds a lot to the game. While you'll be using the same spells over and over again (particularly Wingardium Leviosa), it's fun to see what the developers have come up with each time you get to hitting the buttons. You'll ride a flying pumpkin, watch dancing skeletons, and build a giant mouse trap to catch Peter Pettigrew. Character tokens and red bricks are fun to find, too, because they add something to gameplay instead of being things to collect for the sake of collecting. The various potions are clever as well.

There was, however, a point where I got fatigued of smashing things over and over again for studs. Beginning a level and seeing a field full of smashable flowers made me groan every time; things started to feel a bit drawn out. I don't think year four was as well done as the previous three (it felt rushed). There was also no way a non-fan could follow the story, but maybe that's not necessary.

About the bugs:

I got random crashing during years one and three, which was not a huge deal, and two big hassles where the game would always crash. One was in the tunnel below the whomping willow, and was fixed by lowering the game's graphics settings.

The second was the infamous ice melting glitch at the end of year three. This was not as hard to get around as I thought. The trick is to make sure the ice is completely offscreen when it melts, so the animation cannot crash the game. To do this, I hit F2 to make the second character (Hermione) playable, then moved her all the way to the door on the left hand side, so the ice was not visible on her side of the split screen. Then I took Harry and positioned him so that I could see the torch I needed to hit, but the ice was not visible (this was easier because of the split screen--there's a lot less space). I hit the torch and didn't move until the sound of the ice melting was finished. Then I did it for the other one. Problem solved.Read more ›